Many of us remember the Mamas and the Papas’ hit song, “Monday Monday.” On Monday, Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Whitman ascended the great tower at the University of Texas and proceeded to shoot and kill as many people as possible.

In this intriguing novel by the award-winning author Elizabeth Crook, Shelly Maddox is gunned down and rescued by Wyatt Calvert, whose cousin, John Stone, in an effort to help him, is also shot and sterilized for life. Crook’s family saga moves forward from that horrifying day, which she describes in vivid detail.

Wyatt, who’s married with a son, has an affair with Shelly who gives birth to their daughter whom John and his wife, Delia, adopt since they can’t have children. The secret remains hidden from Wyatt’s wife, Elaine, for years. Working at a gift shop in San Marcos, Shelly, who’s survived a flood, runs into the Stones and their (her) daughter, Carlotta. All become close friends in the years that follow.

Shelly marries geologist Dan Hadley. They have a daughter, Madeline. Dan’s position on that fateful day is slowly revealed. The Devil’s Sinkhole, a natural bat habitat in Texas, plays a horrific role in further events. And one night Shelly, Wyatt, Madeline, Carlotta and all, along with a runaway dog and a dead tadpole, converge. It’s time to talk.

Crook is fine at probing the depths of emotions as they shift and shiver, but her flat characters are virtually interchangeable. They’re blank screens on which to project psychological turmoil, but they have no distinctive personalities of their own. They’re ultimately decent folk, and Crook’s bright, visual prose assures us that all will turn out well.

Maybe that’s the definition of soap opera: emotions and situations overwhelm all else. It’s still a decent novel — what will happen amid the lovers, deaths, marriages and babies? — but it’s the carefully crafted crises that linger, not the characters.